A Forbidden Word

It looked like a wake. If Yllana were awake, she would have scolded the two men who guarded her like a hawk that night. But as the night grew deeper, she did not even give off a sign that she was feeling any better. Creased brows, sweating forehead, hands balled into a fist – she was having a hard time since her eyes closed at dusk.

"So, you are having a problem saying it?" There was a different kind of glow in Theoden's eyes. "Do you know why?" He was on one side of the bed while Lucien was across him. They have both taken their seats. 

In that dark bedroom where Yllana was sleeping with a scrunched-up face, the two men refused to leave her side. One, a doting father who was overly worried when he found her alone with a demon king, and the other, THE demon king who was jealous of the man who sent her flowers that day.

"Yes." Lucien felt his heart constricted inside his chest. "Even thinking about it, makes it so hard to breathe." His breaths fell short.